Sisimpur tunes up learning: 40 nursery rhymes to enchant children's minds

USAID’s Sisimpur project, the local production of Sesame Street in Bangladesh, has launched an initiative to bring the joy of nursery rhymes to children. Sisimpur has produced 40 popular Bengali nursery rhymes, recited by the popular characters Halum, Tuktuki, Ikri, and Shiku. Supported by USAID/Bangladesh, this initiative aims to make learning more engaging and enjoyable for children, says a press release.

Most of the selected rhymes are sourced from pre-primary to second-grade textbooks to help encourage children to learn their educational rhymes with increased interest and joy. Additionally, the collection includes fun and popular rhymes beyond the textbooks, designed to foster creativity and imaginative thinking among children.

Among these 40 rhymes there has been a collection of traditional Bengali rhymes and modern rhymes written by popular writers. Bengali rhymes like Hattima Tim Tim, Oi Dekha Jay Talgach, Ata Gache Tota Pakhi are a part of the series. With the voices of Sisimpur characters, these rhymes turned into some melodious pieces children enjoy and remember.

Mohammad Shah Alam, Chief of Party of USAID’s Sisimpur Project and the Managing Director of Sesame Workshop Bangladesh, highlighted the important role rhymes play in nurturing children's creativity and imagination. He also mentioned, rhyming helps children develop their phonological skills, learn new words, sentence structures and the beautiful rhythm of Bengali language.

"With this in mind, our hope is that these videos will help make the learning process for our children more enjoyable and meaningful. Sisimpur also celebrated the International Education Week through a social media campaign on Facebook publishing the rhymes," he added.

The videos have already started airing on Sisimpur's social media platforms. Additionally, the rhymes will be shared with children and parents through the Sisimpur app, and through Sisimpur’s school and community programmes.

Rhymes Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXvybN-12gg